Category Archives: future

3068 Brain Storming

Hello Everyone:

I hope this post finds you all well and surviving the semster!

This is a long overdue blog about a recent brainstorming conversation Suzanne, Linda, and I had about 3068. My hope is to share some of my recollections of our conversation and then, Suzanne and Linda please chime in . . .

Bob and Jana, we met in March to continue discussions about the philosophy and goals of 3068 as well as just to ‘compare notes’ and share ideas. Although we haven’t been able to meet again lately, we hope to continue this dialogue.

Part of our conversation was a discussion of the various backgrounds we all bring to our teaching of 3068.

Our backgrounds span the fields of organizational communication (coming from the communication studies discipline), management communication (coming more from management studies), and business communication (a combination of communication studies, management, and english, and others). And, because of this, we all come at the class in ways that are both similar and different.

One way we came to this realization was through a comparison of teaching materials. For example, I use the Miller book, partly because it is written by an organizational communication studies scholar and reflects what i know. Suzanne has used other books in the past, but has been experimenting with Miller as well. Linda’s background and expertise draws her to Argenti’s text, particularly its case study focus and inclusion of crisis communication (one of her specialties).

We have also compared TOCs – there is a great deal of topical overlap between these texts; there are also differences with respect to the theoretical ideas being presented and history of ‘the field’ (as they vary) being presented. We all see strengths in both of these resources.

Yet we also talked about the need to reduce overlap between 3068 and, for example, 3102 as well as the pre-req management classes that are a part of the program. We also talked about the need to continue to develop a course that fully brought together a focus on *communication* with respect to management and organizing. What makes this class different, unique, and/or special in relation to other classes which may also talk about issues of leadership, conflict, etc. in the workplace?

I am putting up (as soon as I send this) a ‘working’ draft of a course philosophy emerging out of these conversations. The goal of this philosophy is for us to come together on some broad goals we want to accomplish in 3068, understanding that we may (probably will) get to these goals differently. Yet they give us some place to start. Please get on to the blog and comment, edit, revise, etc. I’m just putting up a first draft with the expectation that we’ll all add our thoughts in the coming weeks.

We all decided to share ideas via this blog, although we recognize that time is scarce these days. Linda noted that her case study approach is ’emergent’ by nature but there may be ways for her to help teach Suzanne and I more about doing case studies in the classroom.

I think this is the jist of what I remember from our conversation. Suzanne and Linda, please add in your thoughts. Although time is scare to meet, our hope is that this blog will allow us to interact and continue to share ideas on 3068.

Have a super weekend.

Caryn

Spring 2009

So we are off to our new start, a new semester, where I will not be teaching and Linda is now joining us as one of the thinkers and shapers of the Managerial Communication Course. Though I will not be teaching this semester, I am committed to doing research and posting information and ideas for the course. I also will push all of us to post ideas and teaching experiences so this can be a community project, not just each one of us alone in our corners trying to do the “right” thing.

I have started a new Page on technology where anyone using this blog can go to look up articles on organizations and technology. “Pages” are located on the upper right corner of the blog home page and are  reference areas to find research, articles, chapters, and URL links all of which in someway relate to Managerial Communication. The definition of how they relate to the course is open to interpretation, so do not feel compelled to just post or link credible information. It can be something that just makes us think or laugh as well.

Last semester Caryn and I had talked a great deal about how IT and communication is a new field of study in Managerial Communication and that it will probably keep growing as an area of interest to students and scholars alike. So I will look into some of the work out there and hopefully post a few interesting pieces. And again feel free to add to the collection in any of the Pages.

I would like to suggest to everyone that we begin to link our blog to other blogs dealing with some of the same faculty development questions. In order to do that we will have to take off the password protection, meaning anyone who wishes to see out blog will be able to do so, in short open to the world. Yet to see it someone will have to actually search for it, as we can make it only available at Baruch and not on a google search engine. I will let you all think about it, but I want to hold up the idea of how this is one of the new uses in IT and organizations; how do we work in a format that is semi public? Many educational institutions are beginning to look at these questions, IT now allows the transmission and development of knowledge across the world. So how do leaders, teachers and researchers continue to work and teach yet use the far reaching elements of this new IT communication world?

This is all just food for thought….

Ready, Set, Go

I am now working on my syllabus and I wanted to put forward 2 assignments and questions to see if they are applicable to the fall 3068 course. Also I have not found Caryn’s syllabus nor philosophy statement. Perhaps it did not get uploaded…

The first assignment is the observation paper that I have used for COM3102. I often use it as a first draft to the final paper. Allowing students through an observation report to better understand and experience various real life elements that can then be traced and researched through empirical research; the final paper. I have posted it under Activities.

My other “assignment” is the final exam as I have a preference to take home exams, which I believe give the students a lot more time to read the book and to write more. It is a good deal more work for the professor but I believe it does have a stronger impact in the student’s learning. I am posting my final exam from last year under assignments as well.

Let me know what you think and give me any feedback in shaping this semester’s syllabus.